Handicraft and guilds in the late medieval cities

Table of content

1. Introduction

2. The handicraft
2.1 The occupational distribution in medieval cities
2.2 Features of the crafts enterprises
2.3 Apprenticeship and time as journeyman
2.4 The positive influence of the foundation and development of cities on the handicraft and the early division of labour
2.5 The positive effect of the handicraft on the foundation of cities

3. The guilds
3.1 Definition
3.2 Origin of the guilds
3.3 The guild’s organisation
3.4 The guild’s functions

4. Conclusions

1. Introduction

Handcrafts played a vital role in the cities of the medieval times. In the fourteenth century for example, about 50 percent of the citizens of Nürnberg worked in the craft business.^[1] 50 percent and more was possible for the bigger cities in those times.^[2] Because of the importance of the crafts business I will deal with this topic in my homework. In the first part I’ll focus on the handicraft enterprises in the cities and their special features in the medieval times. Then I’ll discuss the system of apprenticeship, because it was quite modern for those times. Furthermore I will show that the foundation of cities and the development of the handicraft contributed to each other. Afterwards I’ll focus on the craft guilds. In this part of the homework I’ll give you a short overview, how guilds developed and in which way they were organised. Then I’ll give an overview on functions of guilds and finally I’ll deal with the question, whether guilds contributed to progress or if they handicapped it.

2. The handicraft

2.1 The occupational distribution in the medieval cities

Which branches of trades were available in the cities depended mainly on the size of the city. Certain trades were available in every town, also in the small ones, especially the food trade of the bakers and butchers. Also very frequently available trades were those of the weavers, the shoemakers and the tailors.

In the medium and the big cities of those times much more trades were available and also the above mentioned trades were more specialised. Actually in the bigger cities a variety from 60 to about 100 different trades existed.^[3]

2.2 Features of crafts enterprises

Today’s handicraft differs in many points from the handicraft in the medieval times.

It was typical that the workshop was within the residential house of the master. Furthermore he sold his products directly from his home or on the city’s market to the customer.

The urban master worked normally alone or together with family members and journeymen.^[4]

The common and for the handicraft typical way of producing and selling products was the so called “Preiswerk”. There the craftsman is the owner of all means of production and he sells the finished product, which is combined out of the invested resources and labour, for a certain price to the customer. That differed the craftsmen from the wageworkers, who only get the money for his work. In some trades the so called “Lohnwerk” was common. There the customer provided the resources and the craftsmen was only paid for the labour. Especially with the beginning of the “Verlagswesen” in southern Germany in late medieval times and with its spread in the renaissance this system was used more often. Normally the craftsmen produced when a customer ordered a specific product or he produced on stocks to sell his products on the market, which takes places regularly.^[5] Most of the masters had the right to employ some assistants but for most of them it was not possible due to their economic situation. But if they employed someone, it was common that the employee stayed in the master’s household. In some trades it was different, for example in the building sector. There the journeymen had normally their own household.^[6]

In spite of the early division of labour and the specialisation in the handicraft, the division of labour within the business of one master was on a lower level. Normally the craftsmen had to do a lot of operations from the resources to the finished product. In the handicraft often one worker did all steps of the production process.

That differed handicraft from manufactures, where the production process is divided in a lot of different steps, which were done by different workers.^[7]

2.3 Apprenticeship and time as journeyman

It’s notable, that a regulated training system already existed in medieval times. If somebody wanted to become a master, he had first to start an apprenticeship in a master’s business. Before someone could start it, he had to meet some personal criteria, for example he had to be of martial origin and his parents might not have worked in a so called dishonest business. Those requirements, which were laid down by the guilds, varied from guild to guild.^[8] If the apprentice met all requirements the training took on average about four years and often he had to pay an apprenticeship premium to the master. The master in turn was often obliged to feed and house the apprentices, what was necessary, because they normally received no or very bad payment in kind. Additionally to the technical education the master was responsible for the education of the young apprentice in every way (behaviour, etc.). It was more than just an apprenticeship, often there was something like a patriarchal relationship between the master and the apprentice.^[9]

After finishing the apprenticeship the apprentice became a journeyman and got his certificate. Now the new journeyman should travel to different cities and work for a few masters. After this travel he had to work longer time (from one to six years) for one master and finally they got the opportunity to receive the master craftsman’s diploma. But to get it he had to produce their masterpiece before. Furthermore he had to pay for a meal for all masters and journeymen.^[10] The journeymen received only low wages, but they were content with them, because the time as journeymen was thought as interstage on the way to the master. In the later medieval times the guilds misused the regulations to let only few new masters into the guilds. That deteriorated the situation of the journeymen, because a lot of them were not able to become a master in their whole life and had to live as so called “Altgesellen”.^[11]

[...]

^[1] Vgl. (Endres, 1990), S. 50

^[2] Vgl. (Henning, 1994), S. 80

^[3] Vgl. (Schulfernsehen, 2001)

^[4] Vgl. (Schulfernsehen, 2001)

5 Vgl. (Henning, 1991), S. 248f

^[6] Vgl. (Kocka, 1990), S. 149

^[7] Vgl. (Jonas, 1969), S. 294

^[8] Vgl. (Hoffmann, 1989), S. 36-40

^[9] Vgl. (Seraphim, 1966), S. 55

^[10] Vgl. (Hoffmann, 1989), S. 40-56

^[11] Vgl. (Seraphim, 1966), S. 96